Gamblers and the IRS - by the book
December 31, 2007
Courtesy of Las Vegas Sun
Here’s a year-end heart-warmer for gamblers: You really do need to pay taxes on your winnings, whether you won $10 or $1,000, and a pair of experts have come out with a book to explain it all.
And no, their initials are not IRS.
Las Vegas tax adviser Marissa Chien’s book, “Tax Help for Gamblers,” co-written by gambling book author Jean Scott, just might be one of the biggest revelations about gambling in years.
Paying gambling taxes is virgin territory for much of the gambling public. Many players have no clue that taxes are due, feign ignorance of tax law or view the Internal Revenue Service much the same way they view a casino - as an entity waiting to be “beat.”
Others try to report their winnings, only to shortchange themselves by underestimating their losses.
Most casinos, on request, offer year-end win-loss statements for customers who use player tracking cards.
But casinos do little to educate the multitudes. You won’t see any “Don’t forget to pay your taxes” signs next to those 2-for-1 offers during this holiday season.
888.com online casino and poker room site Review
December 31, 2007
The 888.com online casino poker room, Pacific Poker, features five of the most popular poker games, including Texas Hold’em, Seven Card Stud, and Omaha Hi. Players can participate in games using the downloadable client software, or use a browser based ‘no download’ version, enabling them to play while on the move.
The client software has recently been updated, and is now a 3D client, with great graphics, customisable player avatars, improved navigation, and a lobby where players can chat with each other.
Pacific Poker offers a school where players can improve their poker game, with free tutorials for beginners, and advanced tips for seasoned pros.
As well as poker, the casino section, powered by 888.com, offers many other games, including blackjack, roulette, and slots. So if you ever need a break from playing poker you can try out classic, multi-hand, or crazy blackjack, and pick up some tips at their industry approved blackjack school.
The 888.com and Pacific Poker client software is available in both Mac and PC versions. Installation is simple, and the software is easy to use. They offer 20 different, secure, payment methods, and budgeting facilities so that you can cap the amount you spend per month – pefect for people who are worried about over-spending on, for example, the slot machines.
Online Casinos and Poker Sites 2007
December 31, 2007
Critique on online casinos and poker rooms
wofacaicasino.com
Playtech powered, this Asian targeted, Chinese and English language online casino is professionally presented with a gambling suite of just over 60 games and all facilities and services. The offering includes both live dealer and conventional software based gaming. Ownership is listed as Resume Investment Ltd in Cyprus.
tugabet.110mb.com
Low end, Grand Virtual template style online casino in various language options but with little upfront information. The Grand Virtual template, unchanged for many years, is now aging and unimpressive. Good deposit options and services, and there are rarely problems with this provider, although in this case the casino is shamelessly and widely spamming message boards in a clumsy, amateurish fashion.
gearpoker.com
New member of the Action Poker Network powered by software from the Norwegian Playsafe Holdings AS company. Interesting range of games, average presentation and services under an Antigua licence. The site was launched December 6 and is offering a match play signup maxed at a dangerously high $2 500. North American and Europe focused.
victoriapalacecasino.com
Online casino, sportsbook and lotto website in 4 European languages and powered by Chartwell Technology in both no-download and downloadable formats. The gambling suite includes 8 soft games, 4 table games, 4 BJs, 3 card games, 3 poker games, 4 classic and 5 multihand VPs and 8 each of 3 reel and 5 reel slots….and a live roulette service. Sister casino is Royal Poker Casino. Licence (issued 1996) is Netherlands Antilles through management company Meadway Holdings NV, with financial facilities through A&C Tech Services Ltd in Cyprus. The website is poorly done with barely readable copy, but there is 24/7 support and a good range of deposit options.
begcasino.com
Re-routes to Royal-Euro Casino, an average quality sister to Royal Casino, which reportedly has Russian connections and offers 16 language versions. The software appears to be Playtech and offers action in dollars, pounds sterling and Euros and has a good games inventory. A 300 percent signup maxed at $300 with a 20 x d+b is offered, although Danish, Canadian and Brazilian players are required to meet a higher WR. There have been spamming complaints about this operation. Antiguan licence, and the owners are listed as Euro VIP Ltd group.
2008 Sees the Return of the Poker Cruise That Started it all…
December 31, 2007
GIBRALTAR, December 31 /PRNewswire/ — The famous PartyPoker.com Million is making a very welcome return in 2008 and will be held in the Mediterranean from May 3rd - 10th. Qualifiers continue to take place online at PartyPoker.com, starting from as little as US$1!
The eight day PartyPoker.com Million VI cruise will sail from Venice in Italy, stopping in Bari, Olympia/Katakolon in Greece, Izmir and Istanbul in Turkey and Dubrovnik in Croatia. The cruise will then return to Venice. The ship, the MSC Poesia, is a state of the art cruise liner packed with facilities. On board there will be restaurants, bars, tennis courts, mini golf, pools, spas, discos, a cinema, shopping and more…and not forgetting a massive 24/7 card room!
The PartyPoker.com Million VI package is worth US$12,000, comprising US$8,200 buy-in for the no limit texas hold’em main event, US$2,700 for the accommodation and the cruise and US$1,100 spending money. The action will be filmed for broadcast worldwide.
Poker After Dark Season 3 Rings in the New Year
December 31, 2007
The third season of NBC’s popular Poker After Dark begins late night on Monday. The format remains the same: Six pros each putting up $20,000 in a $120,000 winner take all match. Poker After Dark airs one match over several nights, giving the audience a chance to see most of the hands played, as well as the great table banter. 57 players have competed during the first two seasons, and the newest season features 15 newcomers including: Jean-Robert Bellande, Hoyt Corkins, Beth Shak, Gavin Smith and Scotty Nguyen.A notable new comer is Ken Light, who will be playing in the opening match of the season. Ken won his seat for free on FullTiltPoker, and was able to select his dream poker line-up.
Poker After Dark alos unveils its newest hostess, Marienella Pereyra who is originally from Argentina. This is her second gig in the poker world, the first being the side line reporter for the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event PPV.
Poker After Dark can be seen 6 times a week:
Monday - Friday (2AM - 3AM)
Saturday Night (1AM-2AM)
How different poker room players differ!
December 31, 2007
A few days ago I was sent a CD from Mansion Poker offering me $15 no deposit free cash. Obviously how could I refuse such kind contribution to my bankroll. All went fine, I registered, money was credited to my account and all. So thanks Mansion.
What is interesting is how the different large poker rooms or ones that work on a poker network can be so different in player ability. Mansion runs off the Ongame poker network, and peaks at around 25k players online. All poker rooms on this network exclude US based players.
Now here’s the point, they are the worst bunch of players per table I’ve come across. And it’s bloody brilliant! Now I’m wondering are European players simply bad, has it to do with the strong currency exchange rate so those dollars seem less important. Or is it a cultural difference, poker is quite a new phenomena to Europe, but in the US it’s always been a popular pastime so are US players inheriantly more skillful at the game?
I’ve been sitting at 5c-10c cash tables, and my observations are as follows.
1) Players will call all-in bets chasing 1 outer straight draws.
2) They’ll call down middle and bottom pair against sizable bets.
3) 60% players see the flop most hands (full ring). I’ve yet to find a tight table.
4) They are unable to lay down top pair, bad kicker.
5) $5-6+ pots can be generated with marginal hands held by all players.
6) Reading opponent card strength is hard when they call down your big bets with often junk hands.
7) Bluffing is completely impossible.
Variance swings can be large due to table looseness.
9) 1/2c rings games on Poker Stars have better players.
10) Limpers who call the 10c blind are often willing to then call a 50c-80c preflop raise holding connectors, face card + random junk kicker. Maybe some strange distorted idea of pot odds/implied odds.
11) A couple of sharks sit at most of these tables, waiting to exploit these terrible players.
World Series of Poker
December 28, 2007
The World Series of Poker is the largest set of poker tournaments in the world. It is held annually in Las Vegas, lasting just over a month. A bracelet is awarded to the winner of each of the fifty-plus events which include all the major varieties of poker. The series culminates with the $10,000 no-limit hold’em “Main Event”, which in recent years has attracted entry fields numbering in the thousands, with the victor receiving a multi-million dollar prize.
The original World Series of Poker was started in 1968 by Tom Moore of San Antonio, Texas, at the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno and was an invitational event. This inaugural event was won by Crandell Addington who went on to place in the top ten of the World Series of Poker Main Event eight times, a record that still stands as of 2007. The set of tournaments that the World Series of Poker (WSOP) would evolve into was the brainchild of Las Vegas casino owner and poker player Benny Binion, as well as his two sons Jack and Ted.
The Binion family nurtured not only the WSOP, but poker in general. Prior to the 1970s, poker was not found at many casinos because of the difficulty of keeping cheaters out. Through better security techniques as well as the Binion’s tireless promotion through events like the WSOP, poker became a very popular game.
In 1970, the first WSOP at Binion’s Horseshoe took place as a series of cash games that included five-card stud, deuce to seven low-ball draw, razz, seven-card stud, and Texas hold ‘em. The format for the Main Event as a freeze-out Texas hold ‘em game came the next year. The winner in 1970, Johnny Moss, was elected by his peers as the first World Champion of Poker and received a silver cup as a prize.
From 1971 on, all WSOP events have been tournaments with cash prizes. In 1973 a new event, Five-card stud, was added to the main event of no limit Texas hold ‘em. Since then new events have been added and removed. In 2006 there were 45 events at the WSOP, covering the majority of poker variants. Currently, Texas hold ‘Em, Omaha hold ‘em and Seven-card stud and their lowball variants (if any) are played. H.O.R.S.E. has been played in the past and returned in 2006. Also, S.H.O.E. has been played in the past, and returned in 2007. Other events played in the past include Chinese poker, Five card stud, and many others. Each event winner gets a coveted gold bracelet as well as the grand prize money, which by tradition is paid in cash brought in cardboard boxes.
Phil Hellmuth has the most bracelets with eleven. Runners-up Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan have each won ten bracelets. Doyle’s son, Todd Brunson, won a bracelet in a $2,500 Omaha Eight-or-better event in 2005, making them the first and only father/son combo to win at least one event at the WSOP. Also, celebrities Patrick Bruel, Jan Vang Sørensen and Jennifer Tilly have won WSOP bracelets in 1998, 2002 and 2005 respectively.
The number of participants in the WSOP has grown almost every year, and in recent years the growth has exploded. In 2000 there were 4,780 entrants in the various events, but in 2005, the number rose to over 23,000 players. In the main event alone, the number of participants grew from 839 in 2003 to 8,773 in 2006. This was known as the “Moneymaker Effect”, named after unknown rookie Chris Moneymaker, who won the main event after having qualified for just $39 through a satellite tournament. Much of this growth can also be attributed to the WSOP airing on ESPN and the World Poker Tour being shown on the Travel Channel, along with other televised series, as well as the boom of online poker.
Like most tournaments, the sponsoring casino takes an entry fee (a percentage between 6% and 10%, depending on the buy-in) and distributes the rest, hence the prize money increases with more players. In the 2005 main event $52,818,610 (US) in prize money was distributed among 560 players, with $7.5 million to first prize.
T. J. Cloutier
December 28, 2007
Thomas James Cloutier (born October 13, 1939) is a professional poker player from Albany, California. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2006.
Cloutier attended the University of California, Berkeley on an athletic scholarship for American football and baseball and played in the Rose Bowl in 1959. However, he later dropped out because of family financial hardship.
Cloutier was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he learned to play poker. After the Army, he played football in the Canadian Football League for Toronto and Montreal, but an injury cut his career short.
Cloutier then started a food company, but it was not successful, so he moved to Texas to work on oil rigs. On his off days he began to play poker, and quit his job after realizing that he was winning more money playing poker than working.
Cloutier specializes in playing tournament poker, especially No Limit and Pot Limit Hold’em. He is the only person in the history of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) to have won events in all three types of Omaha played at the World Series - (Pot Limit High, Limit High, and Limit 8-or-Better High-low split).
Despite winning dozens of tournaments, he has never won the main event of the World Series of Poker, although he has placed four times in the top 5, including two 2nd place finishes in 1985 and 2000.
Cloutier also plays in World Poker Tour (WPT) events, where his highest finish to date was 3rd place in the 2003 Legends of Poker event won by Mel Judah.
Cloutier has also featured in the Ultimate Poker Challenge, the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament and Poker Royale: Battle of the Ages.
Cloutier is tied with Phil Hellmuth for the most all-time WSOP final table finishes record, each with 39.
As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $9,250,000.
